Photo by Joseph Konig
When Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s bill eliminating the religious exemption for childhood vaccinations passed the Assembly in June, angry anti-vaxxers shouted and cursed at him from the viewing gallery above the assembly floor. “We’ll be back Jeffrey,” they promised.
Over 100 anti-vaxxers delivered on that promise with their protest outside the Riverdale YM-YWHA on July 16. Inside the building, Dinowitz and state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi were hosting a town hall on the achievements of the recent legislative session, including Dinowitz’s vaccine bill signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month.
“My kids, my choice,” the protestors chanted. At least two dozen children, some in strollers, were also in attendance. They chanted, too. “We want to go to school! We want to go to school!”
The protestors waved American flags and handed out literature comparing vaccines to substances previously “declared safe” by the government and scientists, like asbestos and mercury tooth fillings. At a nearby bus stop, a flier featured Biaggi in devil horns and asked, “Did the devil wear Prada on 6/13 when she stomped all over the constitution and 1st Amendment rights?” a reference to the film The Devil Wears Prada.
Vaccines became a hot-button issue this year after measles outbreaks in Brooklyn and Rockland County sickened hundreds of people, many in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. Dinowitz represents a sizable Orthodox Jewish community in Riverdale — albeit one without any reported measles cases — and made championing the religious exemption legislation a central focus of his past session in Albany.
At the town hall, where many of the protestors outside were Christian, Dinowitz denounced anti-vaxxers and said no religion he knows of canonically objects to vaccines. However, he conceded, people have the right to believe whatever they want.
“What they don’t have the right to do, is expose other kids to diseases, such as measles,” Dinowitz said. The new law mandates that all schools in New York — public and private — no longer accept religious objections for the vaccines otherwise required by the state for school enrollment. Now, the only legal exemptions in New York are legitimate medical exemptions for children with allergies or compromised immune systems.
“To potentially expose other children to the disease is unconscionable,” Dinowitz added. Vaccines work through “herd immunity,” according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The more people are vaccinated, the less likely the disease is to spread. Ideally, over 90 percent of the population should be immunized.
The outbreaks in Brooklyn and Rockland County are an anomaly in American history. By 2001, measles was believed to be eradicated domestically. Only in recent years, as junk science-based claims about vaccines were popularized, did the disease begin to make a comeback. The city identified 623 confirmed cases of the measles since September, according to the city health department, but only a handful of cases were recorded in the Bronx.
Danielle Lazarakis attended the protest outside the town hall. A resident of Westchester County, Lazarakis was not allowed in the event along with many of the other protestors who were not residents of the 81st Assembly District or the 34th Senate District.
A heavy police presence and the electeds’ staffers checking IDs at the door ensured the event would consist of only constituents of the two politicians. Fliers with rules banning signs and outbursts from the audience to “preserve decorum” were distributed as people walked in. No arrests were made, according to the police.
“It’s against our religion to vaccinate,” Lazarakis said. A member of the Greek Orthodox church, Lazarakis lamented how difficult it was to obtain medical exemptions and argued the law left parents like her out to dry. “Everything happened so suddenly. There’s no provision for us.”
The Greek Orthodox church does not appear to have taken an explicit stance on vaccination, though the American archdiocese has funded vaccination programs in Greece, according to their website. Additionally, the new law allowed for a grace period for unvaccinated children to catch up on their required immunizations. But Lazarakis, like many participants in the protest, have no interest in catching up.
“My kid is not sick. He’s being treated like he has a communicable disease,” Lazarakis argued. Her son, like many unvaccinated children, is barred from returning to his school and attending summer camp. “You have a natural immunity, I think that’s important for people to acknowledge.”
Fliers handed outside the event cited debunked science about how vaccines cause “genetic mutation,” the profit margins of pharmaceutical companies, and speeches given by Robert Kennedy Jr., a popular anti-vaxxer. Signs they carried accused Dinowitz of being a racist and a criminal.
At least one protestor had a poster board with a blurry photo of the assemblyman allegedly giving anti-vaxxers the finger before a Manhattan press conference in May. Dinowitz said he was merely scratching his face.
As the 200 attendees began to file out of the town hall, one woman began to shout at Dinowitz about vaccines.
“If it’s all about the children, what’re we doing about special-needs children who have been kicked out of school,” said Sharen Medrano of Throggs Neck. “Do your research, folks. You’re all asleep. You’re all a bunch of sheep.”
Dinowitz shouted right back.
“Vaccinate them, that’s what you do!” Dinowitz yelled from the stage. With that he was gone, ushered out a back entrance by staff and police to avoid the angry crowd outside.
Universal Healthcare Next Year
Other health-related issues that took center stage focused on state-sponsored universal healthcare.
Despite a growing consensus among Albany Democrats and an abnormally productive session, lawmakers did not vote on the New York Health Act this year. Significant financial and practical hurdles are still being worked out for the bill, a bid for universal healthcare in New York.
Biaggi, who ran on the NY Health Act last fall, said she and other senate Democrats would prioritize the bill next session, particularly by Bronx state Sen. Gustavo Rivera. Rivera is the lead senate sponsor of the bill and chaired a 13-hour hearing with his counterpart in the Assembly, Dick Gottfried.
“Starting in January, I would keep your eyes and ears open for a lot of action, at least from Senator Rivera, surrounding this bill,” Biaggi said at the town hall. “This session, I will admit, we started to talk about this issue too late.”
Rivera recently decided not to run for the 15th Congressional District seat that opened up when Congressman José Serrano announced he was retiring. At the town hall, Biaggi said she believed Rivera’s desire to get the NY Health Act passed factored into that decision.
Tempers Flair in Testing Flap
There are few things as inflammatory to New Yorkers as the debate over school testing. While testing legislation did not come up in Albany this year, city Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza did several times.
Carranza wants to get rid of the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), the single entrance exam to schools like Bronx Science, Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech. Carranza believes the test to be racist and puts black and Latino students at a disadvantage.
At the town hall, Biaggi remained on the fence and talked about how she was a poor test taker, though she does “err on the side of keeping the specialized test.” Dinowitz, a Bronx Science alumnus, said “over-testing” should be curbed, but said he believed some testing was necessary to evaluate students.
A woman in the audience began shouting at Dinowitz, apparently believing he said he though tests should be used to evaluate teachers. Both Dinowitz and Biaggi made it clear they did not support test-based teacher evaluations.
“You’re a teacher and you’re shouting out?” Dinowitz asked. “Seriously?”
admin
Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
English
Arabic
Bengali
Chinese (Simplified)
French
Spanish
Our kids are now subject to 72 vaccines before the age of 18 which is an insane assault on the body.
America’s infant mortality rate is now last or close to last when compared with other industrialized nations.
The more vaccines our kids receive the sicker they have become.
The autism rates in our continue to escalate at frightening numbers
After California eliminated the personal exemption in 2015, the next year the Autism rates for kindergarten kids rose by 17%.
Our kids are the sickest they have ever been but the ones who are forcing this failed Health program (used lightly) upon have no answers as to why.
Parents can not sue the vaccine makers as of 1986
This law gave the Human Health Services the duty to study vaccines bi-yearly. They should have over 60 reports but in this time frame they have yet to d a study.
Vaccines makers who are immune from being sued have little incentive to make safer and more effective vaccines.
Vaccine makers have been found guilty of faking studies, bribing doctors, and conducting in criminal mischief proving they are concerned about one thing – making money and could care less what their products do to their recipients.
There is a vaccine court that is relatively secret that has paid over $4 billion in damages due to vaccines.
Nothing in a free and open society should be forced upon the population given as Americans we were born with inalienable right and this included toxic vaccines.
Vaccines contain heavy metals, chemicals, preservatives, live virus, detergents, and micro-particles that have no business being inside a human being.
The vaccine program in our country is disgrace is a failure and a disgrace.
If these were no great, why then are they being forced upon the population?
Parents are protesting because they don’t want to inject their kids with poisons which could kill them or injure them for life.
.
I’m sorry to tell you Kevin, but we’re now in control and YOU NO LONGER have any rights when it comes to health freedom. We have the money. We have the high paid attorneys. We have the mainstream media. We have the local politicians. And now we’re controlling the internet and we’re censoring everything and anything to do with anti-vaxxers and anti-pharma and pro natural health.
We cannot sacrifice our corporate profits just because 20% of our children are now coming down with Autism and other childhood diseases that MAY be LINKED to vaxxes. I recently read a study conducted by another pharmaceutical company that eating too much broccoli and kale can affect a child’s behavior, so who knows what is really causing autism.
You’re best to stay out of this fight because you will NOT WIN.
Sincerely,
Satire Sam
President Big Pharma Corp
I was at the town hall and those protestors were rude nasty and wrong
I can not believe that when our president is putting children in cages not allowing them to wash or be fear properly or being separated from their parents that these people are caring on about this
Can you imagine in the 1950,s when we were all vaccinated against polio and thrilled to be protected what would have happened if these people formed picket lines
I had the measles as well as the chickenpox and mumps as a child. I wish we had vaccinations then to protect us
Guess what? Those poor kids sent to ICE detention camps are all given vaccines as well, some of them suffering terrible reactions and left without medical treatment. We care about them, too!!
Don, these prostestors were frustrated and furious. First their 1st ammendment was stripped, their religious freedom was taken away. This was done illegaly and deliberately without a public hearing. After all of this, on june 13th, he laughed and flipped everyone the bird that was there to protest. Im sorry I dont feel bad for him. Did you know there are 535 members of congress ans over 1400 Big Pharma Lobbyists? In 1950 there were 4 doses of vaccines. Now there are 72 doses today and 271 more vaccines coming our way. The un vaxxed makes up less then 1% of the population. Why should legislators like him, control the future of our health and well being? The same legislators that are trying to give illegals theur own drivers licenses and welfare. The same legislators passing laws for legalized prostitution, and the law to perform a medical procedure on any child WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT. No Im sorry but I do not consent.
But there’s a huge difference between being vaccinated in the 1950’s where you given a small # of vaccines (less than 5) compared to the 72 doses given now and growing. With exemptions stripped, more and more vaccines can be added to the schedule yearly. kids who were vaccine injured as infants are thrown out of school with no services. Doctors have advised not vaccinating further (like my son) yet the state is mandating it. There has to be a better way for these kids.
I wish the kids today had the same schedule we had as kids. We wouldn’t see so much autism, asthma, adhd, food allergies. These poor kids are sick. I wish Ronald Regan did not take liability away from the manufacturers. I wish things were the way they used to be. 🙁 So So sad. I don’t agree that anyone from either side should be rude and nasty.
Your news is false. I watched live video feed of the protest and no one cursed. Yes they chanted, which is common at any protest. If the legislators who voted this bill into law are so confident they did the right thing, why not meet with those who choose not to vaccinate? Listen to their side intelligently and weigh both sides with factual evidence from both sides. Too easily constituents are dismissed when they do not agree with their representatives. America was established on a republic government with a constitution to protect those rights. We are slowly losing those values. This law violates the U.S. constitution by eliminating Americans’ 1st, 4th, 13th, and 14th amendment rights. There will be more bills to follow that will infringe on American’s rights if WE THE PEOPLE don’t wake up and use our voices and power to stop this. When the assembly committee rolls around again in 2020 there will be more than vaccination mandates that will infringe on our rights as American citizens. Take the time and research bills that will again be proposed in the year 2020 at nysenate.gov. Wake up citizens of America before it’s too late!!!
Michele, I’m sorry to inform you, but “America was NOT established on a republic government with a constitution to protect those rights.”. Just ask any Native American who lives in a concentration camp in OUR country (aka: Indian Reservation). America was established by killing the Indians, enslaving blacks, and suppressing women. What is happening in our society today is just a direct result of that attitude of “I’m going to do and take what I want”. This is just our Karma. Get used to it because they have the money, the media, and now the internet and it’s just going to get a whole lot worse.
Don Bluestone, do your research, like all of us who choose not to vaccinate our children. Because you had measles and mumps, you’re actually protected from certain types of cancer, did you know that? I bet not. You just like to spout off your OPINION, without having done ONE MINUTE of research. Why would parents put their kids at risk if vaccinations were safe?? We would vaccinate IF they worked, IF they weren’t full of human and animal DNA fragments, aluminum, MSG, other preservatives, etc., IF they weren’t LINKED to autism (pipe down, Don, I didn’t say CAUSED). So do your research and shut the heck up for now.
You forgot to add my quote that the party of bodily autonomy is mandating a product that’s free of all liability. That alone should illicit curiosity. And that all changed in 1986 when Pharma went to Congress for help bc so many families were suing them for injuries.
If vaccines were truly as safe and effective as claimed, the push would never need to be this hard and mandates wouldn’t need to be a thing.
People would simply get them bc they felt they enhanced health, like purchasing fresh produce etc. We also wouldn’t have a vaccine injury court, paid by our tax dollars, which to date has paid over 4 billion dollars to injured families.
You forgot to add my quote that the party of bodily autonomy is mandating a product that’s free of all liability. That alone should illicit curiosity. And that all changed in 1986 when Pharma went to Congress for help bc so many families were suing them for injuries.
If vaccines were truly as safe and effective as claimed, the push would vnever need to be this hard and mandates wouldn’t need to be a thing.
People would simply get them bc they felt they enhanced health, like purchasing fresh produce etc. We also wouldn’t have a vaccine injury court, paid by our tax dollars, which to date has paid over 4 billion dollars to injured families.
Those are very sad days for my family… I moved to US from Poland and I remember my grandma’s stories about forceful medical procedures during holocaust…I could never imagine to live through deja vou in New York state…my children have already lost of neurological problems that costs the state tens of thousands of dollars on the yearly basis. I followed the CDC schedule like a sheep, until I developed an autoimmune disorder followed by a flu vaccine necessary for my nursing school. Non of the disorders that my children have been diagnosed with run in my or my husband’s family. They are men made disorders.
Oh the irony. Dinowitz scolds a teacher for shouting, and yet he himself as a legislative representative had no problem shouting at protesters.
““If it’s all about the children, what’re we doing about special-needs children who have been kicked out of school,” said Sharen Medrano of Throggs Neck. “Do your research, folks. You’re all asleep. You’re all a bunch of sheep.”
Dinowitz shouted right back.
“Vaccinate them, that’s what you do!” Dinowitz yelled from the stage.”
Dinowitz has turned a deaf ear especially to parents of vaccine injured children, who he – and some of his colleagues – perfectly trained by the pharmaceutical lobby, treats as pariahs, undesirables, invisibles.
Newsflash: Those who have religious objections to vaccinations will not suddenly waver and go ahead and put their kids in harm’s way.
A fraction of these parents may feel forced into it, for financial reasons only, after trying in vain to get a medical exemption (nearly impossible in New York, unless it’s a live vaccine and the child is on chemo, and immunocompromised). Chances are these aren’t parents whose children were vaccine injured, because, come what may, they will refuse. What will happen to these kids whose parents are coerced into vaccinating? Will they truly be protected against the measles?
Around Memorial Day Weekend I met a young couple in New Paltz. The conversation turned to Measles Mania in the media, particularly targeting Orthodox Jewish families in Willliamsburg and Rockland County (many wholistic Waldorf School families were also affected). The woman said: Interesting how perspective changes: When I was still a teen I went to my doctor with fever, neck, and joint pain. The doctor ordered a spinal tap, concerned it might be meningitis. Going over the test results he told me: “Good news, you ONLY have the measles”. Mind you, I had recently gotten my MMR booster, and never got that rash.”
Her boyfriend chimed in: “I had several MMR shots too, and had the measles, twice”. As someone who travels a lot, meeting many people along the way, I hear this more times than I can count.
I have no incentive to tell anyone lies about this. We know who does. Those of us who are observant, all know about vaccine failure. Vaccinating everyone with the MMR will not eradicate the measles. The mumps component is even worse. Reports of outbreaks are in the news regularly, and Merck is involved in a court case re: the mumps component of the MMR vaccine, accused of fraud by two scientists involved in the development of this vaccine.
Tetyana Obhukhanych, Ph.D., Harvard Trained immunologist, with Physicians for Informed Consent, has compelling evidence to show why unvaccinated children aren’t any more of threat to public health compared to vaccinated ones. Complete with peer reviewed studies. https://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/an-open-letter-to-legislators-currently-considering-vaccine-legislation-from-tetyana-obukhanych-phd-in-immunology/
There are pediatricians who have spoken up about how irresponsible it is to catch up young children with so many (other) vaccines so quickly.
Several court cases are underway to undo the injustice of this rushed legislation, without public hearing. An FBI investigation into the unlawful strong arming of one of the assembly members to change his vote, after a 13 yay vs. 13 nay vote, which should have killed the bill, has been requested as well. The evidence will speak for itself.
This is NY.
stop calling us “anti vaxxers” the term is used to put us all into one box and dismiss our very legitimate concerns about the highly toxic and filthy ingredients used in vaccines. i vaccinated my child. he now requires full time care at age 20. Dinowitz has no business legislating what goes into our children’s bodies. What about all the unvaccinated adults? When was YOUR last booster? How is it safe to be “in the public square” with them? How did we survive as a species without all these vaccines? Health doesn’t come from a needle. I suggest Dinowitz get the entire childhood vaccine schedule -all 72 doses – with a few flu shots thrown in for good measure – in public – right now – to demonstrate how perfectly safe and effective they are. We will be following him forever until he is out of office and unable to harm anymore children. What an awful horrible unprofessional man. He should remember who he works for. He gave us all the finger. What an ass.
AND RFK JR IS NOT AN ANTI VAXXER. YOUR ARTICLE IS FULL OF LIES. SHOW PROOF THE SCIENCE SHARED WAS “DEBUNKED”, YOU LIAR.
There was no grace period given!
At best a number of days.
Get your facts straight before you write an article to the public.
There was NO GRACE period given. This article is full of pseudo-facts!
““What they don’t have the right to do, is expose other kids to diseases, such as measles,” Dinowitz said.” Oh, but other children have the right to expose my children to ADHD, ODD, and many other behavior disorders associated with eating too much refined sugars and refined grains? And oh, those same children are on who knows what medications that expose my child to other dangers. No public official wants to hear the truth that most school shootings by school age children are the direct result of being on pharmaceuticals. I wish someone SMART would run for public office and then outlaw any child on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and see what kind of uproar Big Pharma would cause. Corp America and Wall Street are OUT OF CONTROL!!!
So much stupidity in one picture! How many depend on essential oils and “supplements” to treat treatable diseases?
I can hear the cries “let’s bring back polio!” “Measles don’t kill!”
Utter morons. I feel bad for their children. Yes, we have more vaccines – because they prevent horrible deaths. Travel, and see what measles does to bodies, if they live.